Yale honors Petoskey guidance counselor

PETOSKEY — As she listens to the kindness spoken of her from a former student, Karen Starkey gets a little teary-eyed.

“Inspiring.” “Resilient.” “Influential.”

A guidance counselor at Petoskey High School for the last 14 years, Starkey works with more than 500 students each year. She gets to know each and every one of them, helping them with course schedules, talking them through personal struggles and offers endless encouragement. She meets with them during school hours and attends their sporting events and after school activities on her own time.

She makes a difference.

“If you interviewed every student at Petoskey High School and asked for the most influential staff member, Mrs. Starkey would undoubtedly top the list,” said Mitch Barrows, a 2012 Petoskey graduate and current freshman at Yale University.

It’s Starkey’s great influence that compelled Barrows to nominate her for the Yale Educator Award. The award recognizes outstanding educators from around the world who support and inspire their students to perform at high levels and to achieve excellence.

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Starkey is a recipient of this year’s award, chosen from a pool of 274 nominees who represent 33 states and 12 countries. Fifty teachers and 40 counselors were selected to receive the award.

“I was just really surprised,” Starkey said of the honor.

“I know Mitch and I have had a good connection but it takes a lot to nominate someone for something such as this.”

Starkey first met Barrows just before he started his freshman year at Petoskey High School.

“He had all these classes and all these things he wanted to do,” Starkey recalled. “He’s so motivated and not afraid to tackle anything.”

“I remember him saying, disappointed, ‘Well, I can’t do everything,’ and I said, ‘Of course you can’t.’”Barrows said he visited Starkey’s office often while at the high school, noting that he could always count on her to take any of his problems, no matter how big or small, seriously.

“Watching Mrs. Starkey interact with students left no doubt in my mind that education was the right field for her,” Barrows said. “It takes a special person to be able to interact with the spectrum of personality types and intelligence found at Petoskey High School and she does so every day, making it seems easy.”

And even when it wasn’t easy, Starkey didn’t show it.

A couple years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Barrows said a somberness spread throughout the entire student body.

“I believe we were more upset than she, because you couldn’t tell anything was wrong by the smile on her face. Mrs. Starkey’s strength and resilience during that time inspired all of us.”

“I cannot think of a more deserving person in the Petoskey school district for this type of recognition,” Barrows said of his former guidance counselor.

“The Yale Educator Award recognizes teachers and counselors who were instrumental in the success of Yale students. I could not have earned my acceptance to Yale without Mrs. Starkey.”

“I’m really honored,” Starkey said. “I try to make a difference and I love what I do. It’s just a great surprise.”